Thursday, October 29, 2015

Plants are not just beautiful, tasty or useful for habitat.
Many flowers and plants have meaning and send messages when you share them.
It’s not secret code exactly but you can include a hidden message. This year
has been unusually full of stories of personal loss of friends, family, pets,
and people who have had past life influences. It got me thinking about flowers
and plants that I commonly give in sympathy or plant as a memorial to honor the
person or creature. You could sprinkle these in your home or garden or pick a
dedicated section to cluster them into a memorial garden. Each time you pass by
or glance at them it will bring the person or pet to mind. You may have seen
memorial bricks in garden paths like at the Gilpin County Veterans Memorial
outside of the CSU Extension office. These or stepping stones can be blended in
a contemplative space which lasts for years.

Zinnia

Some memorial plants you could include in the mountains are:

“Remembrance” columbines (Aquilegia) which are a Plant
Select flowering plant

Pink Dianthus says “I will never forget you” and both First
Love and Bath Pinks are also quite fragrant.

Forget-me-nots speak for themselves. The brilliant blue
flowers are a nice groundcover.

We all experience loss in our lives and these plants are a
kind gesture for people in your lives or for your own remembrance garden or as
part of a local community garden. Winter is a good time for reading books
related to gardening and flowers. One novel you might read is The Language of
Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh which incorporates some plant meanings for loss
and other life events.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

For many of us, fall is a fine
time to plant many perennials. The soil and air are cooler and sunlight is less
intense, so the weather's less stressful for newcomer plants. Competition from
weeds isn't likely to be a big problem, either.In many of our high altitude
areas, rainfall becomes more regular, too, which helps provide the moisture the
perennials need to start good root growth. Yes, the perennials will soon head
into winter dormancy, but fall planting often gives these perennials a head
start over their spring-planted counterparts.

In spring, the fall-planted perennials should be raring to
grow, larger and more robust.

Prior to planting, you may
want to confirm your local plant hardiness zones and take a look at your local
site conditions to see if you may have some beneficial (or detrimental)
microclimatic conditions that may allow you to utilize better adapted plants in
these areas.

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Maps

The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map
is the current standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which
plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average
annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree F zones.

If your hardiness zone has changed in
this edition of the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM), it does not mean
you should start pulling plants out of your garden or change what you are
growing. What is thriving in your yard will most likely continue to thrive.

Hardiness zones are based on the average annual extreme minimum temperature
during a 30-year period in the past, not the lowest temperature that has ever
occurred in the past or might occur in the future. Gardeners should keep that
in mind when selecting plants, especially if they choose to "push" their
hardiness zone by growing plants not rated for their zone. In addition,
although this edition of the USDA PHZM is drawn in the most detailed scale to
date, there might still be microclimates that are too small to show up on the
map.

Plantmaps.comis a relatively new reference
website that contains several interactive maps and tools to assist gardeners,
botanists, farmers and horticulturalists. By entering a ZIP code, users can
find not only the new USDA Plant Hardiness Zone, but also the first and last
frost dates, heat zones, drought conditions and annual climatology for their
area, that the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone website does not provide.

Here’s some examples of plant hardiness
zones and climatic data for Idaho Springs, Evergreen, Bailey, and Conifer, and
you will notice that even those some of these areas have the same plant
hardiness zones, they have different first and last frost dates which you
should account for in your plant selection and garden management strategy.

Microclimates

Microclimates, which are fine-scale
climate variations, can be small heat islands—such as those caused by blacktop
and rock outcrops —or cool spots caused by small hills and valleys. Individual
gardens also may have very localized microclimates. Your garden soils could be
somewhat warmer or cooler, or drier or moister than the surrounding area
because it is sheltered or exposed. You also could have pockets within your
garden that are warmer or cooler than the general zone for your area or for the
rest of your yard, such as a sheltered area in front of a south-facing wall or
a low spot where cold air pools first.

No hardiness zone map can take the
place of the detailed knowledge that gardeners pick up about their own gardens
through hands-on experience.

The graphic below depicts the effect of
aspect and solar radiation on soil temperature and soil moisture that can
result in contrasting microclimates on your property.

Many species of
plants gradually acquire cold hardiness in the fall when they experience
shorter days and cooler temperatures. This hardiness is normally lost gradually
in late winter as temperatures warm and days become longer. A bout of extremely
cold weather early in the fall may injure plants even though the temperatures
may not reach the average lowest temperature for your zone. Similarly,
exceptionally warm weather in midwinter followed by a sharp change to
seasonably cold weather may cause injury to plants as well. Such factors are
not taken into account in the USDA PHZM.

All PHZMs are
just guides. They are based on the average lowest temperatures, not the lowest
ever. Growing plants at the extreme of the coldest zone where they are adapted
means that they could experience a year with a rare, extreme cold snap that
lasts just a day or two, and plants that have thrived happily for several years
could be lost. Gardeners need to keep that in mind and understand that past
weather records cannot be a guarantee for future variation in weather.

Other Factors to
Consider

Many other
environmental factors, in addition to hardiness zones, contribute to the
success or failure of plants. Wind, soil type, soil moisture, humidity,
pollution, snow, and winter sunshine can greatly affect the survival of plants.
The way plants are placed in the landscape, how they are planted, and their
size and health might also influence their survival.

Hopefully after
revisiting your local climatic and site conditions you can develop a gardening
strategy that will accommodate these factors.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Autumn - one of my favorite times of the year.The air is crisp and cool, pumpkins are in
season and the mountains are bright with the brilliant yellows and reds of the
turning aspens.However, as a gardener
and wildflower enthusiast, I can’t help but be a little sad that my gardening
days are coming to an end for the season.Prepping the beds and cleaning and putting my tools away for winter are
never my favorite things to do.However,
there is one thing I always look forward to doing every fall - collecting
wildflower seed.

I love hiking in the mountains and, during the spring and
summer months, I always am spotting beautiful wildflowers that I would love to
have in my own garden at home - plants I never can find at nurseries or, if I
do, they are beyond expensive.And, I’m
sure I’m not alone… it is so tempting to just dig up plants from their native
habitat to transplant them to your garden.However, I resist this urge because I know removing them disrupts a very
delicate ecological balance and can result in long-lasting, detrimental impacts
to the environment.So, I take lots of
pictures.eeds.cm

Seed
collecting, however, can be a great alternativeif you just HAVE to have that
wildflower you’ve discovered.Seeds
collected from our local areas will result in plants that are mountain hardy,
better adapted to your high altitude garden than packaged seed and will require
fewer inputs (e.g., amendments) for survival.Plus, it’s inexpensive and will result in lots of wonderful color for
your garden!

Be aware though, seed collecting is not always an
option.Federal, state and county laws
prohibit seed collecting on their respective lands (unless a permit is
obtained).So, I always make a point to
spend some time exploring areas where I know I can collect seed when fall comes
- the land around my house, other private land and land slated for development
(with permission, of course), and County ROWs.

Once I locate
a plant from which I want to collect seed, I either GPS the location, mark the
plant with colorful flagging and / or take notes on its specific location and
botanical characteristics. If there is one thing I have learned when it comes
to seed collecting, it is that no matter how confident I am that I can find the
plant again, if I don’t mark it somehow, then my chances of relocating it are
slim to none!

When collecting seed, there are a few basic rules to follow. Always
know what you are collecting.There are
many invasive “look-a-likes” and it is so important not to collect and spread
seed from these weeds.Likewise, check
your clothing, shoes and equipment for any seed; you don’t want to bring in any
unwanted hitchhikers!Minimizeyour impact to the
collection site - avoid disturbing habitat and trampling the soil.Only collect from plants that are abundant in
a given population and never collect from rare or endangered species.Once you are ready to collect, make sure the
seed is mature (otherwise you are just wasting it) and never collect more than
10% from any given plant.Paper bags are
best for seed collecting and storage; plastic bags can lead to molding.Make sure to label your bag with the species,
date and location and make note of any site characteristics (e.g., aspect,
microhabitat).

Timing is
critical when it comes to seed collecting.Chances are, you may have to make several trips in order to not miss the
window between seed maturation and seed drop.Know when the approximate flowering and fruiting dates are for the
species you are interested in and be vigilant… species, weather (e.g.,
precipitation, frost) and elevation will all influence seed set.Mature seeds will usually be dark, firm and
dry.If you are collecting seed from
pulpy fruits, watch for the fruits to soften and change from yellows or greens
to blues, purples or reds.Once you’ve
collected your seed, clean it (if necessary) and store in a cool, dark, dry
location until you are ready to sow.

Fall is a
great time to sow your seed; the winter snow and cold promote germination of
our mountain wildflowers.For each
species, make sure you find a location in your garden with similar conditions as
where the seed was collected.If
necessary, weed the site, before sowing.To prevent overseeding, which is easy to accidentally do, mix your sand
and seed at a ratio of 6:1. Spread over your newly prepped area, rake in and
tamp down lightly.

Now, it is time to relax!Let the snow come.Dream about
next year’s garden and eagerly await your new wildflower seedlings that will
germinate next spring and summer!

If interested learning more about wildflower seed collecting,
CSU Extension in Clear Creek County will be offering a “Wildflower Seed Collecting”
presentation on October 26th at 6pm at the Georgetown Heritage Center in
Georgetown, CO.Master Gardeners will
discuss in more detail the following topics: